Battle of Irontown

The Battle of Irontown was a major battle of Sheridan's Valley Campaign in which Confederate general Jubal A. Early was defeated in his attempt to clear the Irontown Road of Alexander McDowell Cook's Union army. He suffered heavy losses due to artillery fire.

Background
Early attempted to revive the Gettysburg Campaign by advancing up the Chambersburg Pike and into the state of Pennsylvania, a key state of the Union States due to its proximity to Washington and its large supply of steel and other commodities. The Union dispatched two armies to block his progress: they sent Philip Sheridan to block the Chambersburg Pike and Erastus B. Tyler to block the Irontown Road. Early attempted to draw attention to Irontown by sending Robert E. Rodes and Stephen D. Ramseur to attack Tyler, resulting in the defeat at the Battle of Cobb's Market on June 10, 1864. But Early had managed to divert some units and continued his march.

It was then that he found out that Sheridan was blocking the road, as Union reconaissance units had found out the true intentions of his plan. Early then tried to seize the Irontown Road from the Union army, with Alexander McDowell Cook in charge of a force of 1,000 troops and 27 cannon. Early had 1,300 troops and 12 cannon, and was confident that he could take over the route to Pennsylvania.

Battle
Early's army fortified their cannon and sent their soldiers and artillery out to meet the Union. Cook's army had entrenched their cannon and sent their cavalry to launch an attack on the Confederates that confused them. The Confederate troops concentrated their fire on individual units, but found that a cavalry force was converging on their left flank through a farm field, and it took cover in brush. The Confederate artillery tried to dislodge them with cannon fire as did the infantry with musketry, but at the same time, the Union artillery decimated their units. Early gambled on a charge against the artillery, but since his battalions were divided into half-size of 200, they were routed piecemeal as they charged. Eventually, only his artillery were left. Rather than sacrifice his valuable gunners, Early retreated.

Aftermath
The Confederates had suffered near-total casualties, while the Union had also taken a decent amount of losses, mainly their cavalrymen. Early was forced to cancel his Irontown Campaign and burnt the town of Chambersburg, retreating south. He mustered his strength and would bite back in the Battle of Monocacy in July, and would go on to have success until the end of his campaign in October.